Italy and the International Monetary Fund. From Multiple Exchange-Rate System to Convertibility

This article focuses on the origins of the relationship between Italy and the International Monetary Fund. The year 1947 signed the end of a diplomatic negotiation, which had started as early as the Bonomi government in 1944, and the begininning of a lively economic dispute, which lasted for more than ten years, until Italy managed to fix a par value with the dollar for the Italian lira and declare convertibility. It was only then that Italy fully complied with the requirements demanded by the Bretton Woods regime, in particular with Article VIII of the Statute of the Fund. This process involved the internationalization of the economy, the joining of the European Payments Union, and, eventually, of the European Community in 1957. The Appendix includes some unpublished documents taken from the Archives of the IMF, which show how consultations took place.